Harnia Real Estate Properties Investment Solutions

Cheap houses – Brightmoor, Detroit?

I fell over a real estate site which said that you could buy a house in Brightmoor, Detroit for about 100$. Can you just go up to the real estate broker, pay the 100 bugs, sign some papers, and then the house is yours, or are there other things to know?

How high is the housing-taxes in Detroit?

Is Brightmoor an extremely bad neighborhood since the housing prices are so low?
Please. Only answers that answers my questions. And no stupid answers please, “like, you are an idiot even considering buying a house there”

How do I get good faith deposit released to seller when buyer non-responsive.?

California real estate buyers decided after all contingencies removed that they couldn’t go through with the deal a week before close. Buyer’s realtor is a relative of the buyers. She was given the cancellation of contract and the buyers are not signing.

The deposit is $1000. The seller has lost $3000 – lost deposits for moving, rent for a new place, money spent on inspections and home warranties not used. The seller wants the deposit.

Other than sending certified mail or walking the form over to the buyer’s house – is there any recourse other than suing? Is there a cheap way to sue? It’s only $1000 but it would help recover costs. Thank you.

anyone know any online sites that show you foreclosures bankruptcy homes and places like that for free?

i am trying to start a small real estate company on the side and was wondering if there are any sites out there that show you homes, pictures of them and stuff liek that for free. i would like the homes to be very cheap and foreclosures. any help on that would be nice, i dont mind signing up somewhere but i dont want to give financial, or personal info thanx

quit claim question – From remarried father to son?

My father remarried and lives in a home with his wife and her 2 children. As his only son I am currently living with roomates. My father wants to put the house in my name; it is currently in his name only.

My fathers wife is foreign and she will be legal after my father and her meet with immigration this coming June (marking 2 years for her in this country I believe).

How can my father transfer ownership of the home to me? He wants it so that she has no claim to the home at all should something happen to him. Since she isn’t even a citizen yet, would she need to sign something? I am planning on taking out a loan to pay off my father who is giving me a cheap price on the home and moving out before June.

Any and all advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated; I know VERY little about real estate and do not want to pay for a home only to have someone take it from me. What type of deed should I get? Is a quit claim enough?

Recession 2007 ???

I have written about the great imbalances of the US economy. Yet in all of my previous articles on the subject I have been unable to pinpoint when these imbalances will result in a bust.

One can never be completely sure of the future, of course, as one does not have full information about all factors shaping future events. Thus, it is possible that this prediction will go wrong if the US experiences some future positive shock, such as for example a significant decline in oil prices. Australia seemed poised for a recession in 2005 after its housing market busted, but this was averted as the prices of Australia’s commodity exports soared because of increased demand from China.

However, barring such an unexpected positive shock, it seems increasingly clear that we will see a US recession this year. The main reason for this is that the housing bubble that fueled the recovery of the last few years has essentially burst.

While mortgage debt continues to climb, albeit at a slower rate than before, and while housing prices have flattened rather than declined so far, other housing market indicators point to a housing recession. New home sales have reached multi-year lows and the inventory of unsold homes reached multi-year highs. Meanwhile, residential investment has declined significantly from its peak in late 2005. From 6.3% of GDP in the third quarter of 2005 to 5.3% in the fourth quarter of 2006. However, that is still above the 4% average of the 1980s and 1990s, and also significantly above the 3.3–3.4% level of the recessions of 1982 and 1991.[1]
So far, the economy has seemingly handled this fairly well and experienced what one might call a “soft landing,” with growth being slow but still well above zero. Yet there are increasing signs that the worst is yet to come. Much of the housing bubble was financed by so-called subprime mortgages, mortgages to people with a low credit rating. Subprime mortgages were encouraged greatly by the government, with the Federal Reserve providing a cheap source of credit and with Bush encouraging it as part of the “ownership society” that he envisioned. But after the Fed was forced to raise interest rates again, and as the introductory teaser offers expired, the cost of borrowing for the subprime borrowers increased sharply. And as subprime lenders almost by definition have weak personal finances, many have proven unable to handle that.
And so we now see how the default rate has increased sharply. This will mean two things: first, new subprime loans will decline sharply. So far this year, subprime loans have declined 37% from last year.[2]
This will not only mean lower demand for new houses, but also increased supply as an increasing number of subprime borrowers are forced to leave their homes. This fact, as well as the fact that construction spending is still at historically high levels means that it is likely to decline a lot more. And if this causes outright decline in housing prices, it will have a very adverse effect on consumer spending. The household savings rate was -1.2% in January and February.[3] Meanwhile, despite record high asset valuation, the household debt to asset ratio reached record levels last year, as did the mortgage debt to housing value which hit a record high of 47% in the fourth quarter of 2006.[4] Looking beyond the aggregate number, you can see that 27% of all homeowners have less than 20% equity (more than 80% mortgage debt) in their homes and 16% have less than 10% equity, making them highly vulnerable to a fall in prices.[5]
All of this implies that the current spending pattern is dependent upon a continued rapid increase in asset prices, from levels which are historically already extremely high. Household real estate values, which in my first article on the subject I reported to be 184% of disposable income, up from the historic range of 135% to 150%, had in the fourth quarter of 2006 risen to 213% of disposable income. Meaning that there is certainly a high risk of falling prices — which, given the negative savings rate and the record high level of household debt, would imply that consumer spending will have to fall.
With residential investments likely to continue to fall and with consumer spending likely to be weak as well, the one thing that could save the US economy would be business investments. Business investments are still at a relatively moderate level, and in relation to corporate profits they are in fact historically low.
However, there are signs that corporate profits have peaked. The increase in profits over the latest year has been concentrated in the financial sector and in foreign subsidiaries of US firms. In contrast, profits at domestic non-financial industries (the sector that invests) have started to decline: in seasonally adjusted terms, they were 2.5% lower in the fourth quarter of 2006 than in the first quarter.[6] And with profits showing signs of declining, it is perhaps less important that they are still at high levels in absolute terms, because what matters for business leaders is not so much current profits, but expected future profits — or to be more precise, if businesses think additional investments will generate even higher profits.

And with the pessimism generated by the decline in profits and the trouble in the housing market, an increasing number of business leaders seem to think that the days of high profits will be over soon. Business investments fell during the fourth quarter of 2006, and judging by the weak data for non-defense, non-aircraft durable goods orders,[7] the outlook for 2007 is not particularly good.

But what about the Federal Reserve? The Fed has always been “the knight in shining armor” always saving the day by cutting interest rates — and they will do so again. At least, that’s what many people on Wall Street seem to think. And of course, Ben Bernanke would certainly be willing to provide “liquidity” — with or without helicopters — if he thought a recession was coming.

However, the fact that commodity prices continue to soar and the dollar is falling means that Bernanke will have limited scope to cut interest rates, particularly in the aggressive way that Greenspan did after the tech stock bubble burst. With businesses being reluctant to invest, and with subprime mortgages discredited, one has to wonder: where is Bernanke going to create the next bubble, the one that will mask the hangover from the housing bubble in the same way that the housing bubble masked the hangover from the tech stock bubble?

How to remodel a bathroom with not much money?

We want to put our house up for sale but our bathroom upstairs is in sad shape. The shower liner is yellowed and old (and we have a window with a wood frame in our shower). The tub is aqua. The vanity is crumbling and the sink top’s finish is worn off so it always looks dirty. The light fixture is outdated, ugly and broken. Above the sink is just a huge mirror. The toilet is actually two put together. The base is original (aqua) and the tank is white and doesn’t have a lid (there is a board that goes across and actually makes a nice shelf. The wallpaper is falling off and dirty. There is a large hole in the wall where a towel bar use to be. The floor is pretty bad too. Both the door and linen closet door need to be replace. We really don’t have much money (and by that I mean we have hundreds not thousands) to put into this. We don’t know anyone in the trades and aren’t handy ourselves. I don’t even know where to start with this. Any suggestions?

Looking for cheaper solution for hardwood floor?

We are putting a house we heritage for sale. We had a contractor go through the place and we were informed that the hardwood that covers the whole house is of great quality, although looks quite ugly (dirty actually, we haven’t cleaned the place yet).
The contractor advised us to have the hardwood filled, sanded, and finished. According to him it would give an appearance of almost new and increase the value of the house.
We would love to do it but the amount charged is just too much for us right now (R$ 900 on materials, and 24 hours of work at $30 a hour).
We wonder if there is any cheaper alternative of hardwood care that could be done by us.
We do not need the new feeling, just to give a better impression.
Does anyone has any idea for us?
we really appreciate!!!!
Ohhh the house is not that big either; it is a small ranch ( the hardwood floor covers 1 medium size bedroom, 2 small bedrooms, a small hall, and a small living room).

trying to buy a my Grandparents house?

My family and I have planed to buy my Grandparents house. My family of 5 have already moved in with the understanding of a “rent to own” kind of deal. My Grandmother is in a home and doesn’t know we have moved in. She is ill plus her memory is going and is suffering from dementia. The doctors suggest not telling her for her health. My Father, Uncle and Aunt were in agreeing with this. Now all of the sudden, My aunt has sent me a text message that someone is going to be but the house to put up a sigh ” for sale by owner”. Apparently my Grandma’s money is all gone. She has a rent of $3000 a month where she is and a income of $1200. My aunt is supposed to apply for medicare as well as V.A. benefits for her to cover the difference. I don’t know if this has been don’t since my Aunt wont tell any one. Befor we moved in to the house, a lot of work in to the house. It was vacant for a year and had mold as well as mice and a tun of bugs. We completely cleaned it all out, tearing up carpets, old tile and rugs. Painting ,re staining, sanding and laying new tile. All under the idea that we were buying it. We have lived here since June of this year and are in process of getting the kids in rolled in school. I have yet to see a contract for this but just trusting my family. Now my aunt is pulling this. She has spent all my Grandma’s money. She had a appraiser to come to the house which I thought was for so us to purchase only to find out she got dollar sighs in her eyes. She had made a comment that she would like to sell this house and get a cottage up north. My Aunt also is in charge of my Grandma’s stuff and has her name on the house to make things easy. I think that she talked my Grandparents into this for her own plans. I have suspected this for a while but now everyone else is starting to see this. My aunt is disliked greatly in my family by a lot of my cousins and sisters, and other members. My question is What do we do ? Do we have any legal rights? How can my Dad get controll of the situation. I think it’s ganna get ugly. My Dad is telling my to stay put and if she puts a sigh in the yard to put it in the trash and not to let her have excess to the house. Does anyone know what to do. I love this house. I sold my previous house in a short sale so I don’t cant get financed. Plus , nothing has been updated in this house in like 40 years. It is so out dated and needs a tun of work. From a completely new roof to part of the foundation crumbling. Needs all new pluming, bathroom and electrical work every wear.

Realators please help me tell my husband he’s wrong…?

We want to put our house up for sale. It is a great house but there are a lot of superficial things we haven’t fixed since we bought the house 5 years ago. Things like none of the doors match and are very beat up, a hole in the bathroom wall, a ceiling tile or two missing in the drop ceiling downstairs, very outdated counter tops and the ugliest tile backsplash I’ve ever seen etc. The whole house needs to be painted and carpets cleaned. We really don’t have any money and don’t really want to take out another home equity loan. My husband says we sell the house as it. I say we at least fix up as much as we can. I think that when people see this little problems they are going to think there are bigger problems that they don’t see and there aren’t. I also think in this tough market that we won’t get anything for our house if we sell it “as is”. Who’s right?
The only reason we want to sell our house is the school our son will start kindergarten in the fall is horrible and we can’t afford nor to we want to put him in private school since ALL the other schools in our area are fine.
The only reason we want to sell our house is the school our son will start kindergarten in the fall is horrible and we can’t afford nor to we want to put him in private school since ALL the other schools in our area are fine.
First, the school my son would go to is terrible and safety is a major concern.

Second, since having two mortgages would finish us financially we plan on renting an apt. till we find something else in our community. To imply that we wouldn’t try to do what is best for our child is rude.
Oh, and Haris I’m very aware of how hard life can be and was simply asking Realtors for some advice on how best to get our home up on the market.
Angela – Thanks! Those are some great ideas I didn’t think of and didn’t even think about qualifying for FHA. We bought the house conventional but we could have gone FHA too.

Why do so many California Homes have swimming pools? Is it a trendy “gotta-have-it” status symbol? ?

I’ve been browsing the homes for sale section of Yahoo Real Estate lately, . . . I’ve noticed a lot of former home owners have sacrificed their backyards just to have a swimming hole put in, permanently or garishly an above ground pool (assuming that its supposed to go with the sale of the house). Some pools take up the entire yard with a couple feet to spare from the neighbors fence. Other pools aren’t sooo bad, if I don’t like it I would fill it in with rocks or dirt. But – honestly what is it with having a swimming pool in your backyard. It just tacks on more to the cost of a home, especially if its an ugly pool.